I can’t believe that it’s almost been a month since we were in Spain. It feels like a year ago and sometimes when I look at photos it actually doesn’t even seem like it happened. Kind of like a dream in a way. All of my days while we were over there just kind of ran together, same with cities — I try to remember what we did when and I can’t place or remember everything. (This is 29 on the edge of 30, by the way. Enjoy your youth while you can because eventually you won’t even remember it.)

By this point we had been traveling for almost a week so I pretty much realized that looking cute was for the birds. (See sneaks with white jeans above.) We stayed at another Air B’nB place in Madrid and this one was quite magical. It was a little off from the center of the city so it was a quiet and just a quick walk to pretty much anything you wanted to do. We honestly never once used the metro system in Madrid, which was so different from Barcelona because we used the metro pretty much the whole time. (Side note: Barcelona metro is the cheapest out of all the cities we visited. Another reason I love that place.)
Everyone we talked to (and who found out very quickly that we were tourists) asked if we had tried the churros and chocolate for breakfast. When one person suggests it you think, okay maybe. When everyone suggests it, you are first in line the next morning. If you visit Spain, churros and chocolate for breakfast, ok? Don’t argue.

 

 

 

 

One night while we were exploring the town and visiting the cutest little hole in the wall wine bars, I found this shoe shop. More importantly, the espadrilles that I had been dropping hints about the whole trip. B took me the next morning and there was a line, so I immediately felt like we had stumbled onto something good. As we waited in line I became more and more anxious because the process it seemed was to pick out your style of shoe in the window, pick the color and tell the one of 4 sales people what you want and then you buy it. No browsing, no trying on. This would be fine, perhaps if I knew the language well enough to even just say ‘orange’. B speaks a little bit of Spanish (over there it is actually Catalan, which is a bit different than Spanish we learned in school) and I speak little to none. At one point a sweet lady turned around to me and spoke to me in Catalan and pointed behind me, I’m sure my eyes were as big as they could possibly be, so I just shook my head and told her I didn’t speak spanish. She waved me off, pointed behind me again and I realized she just wanted me to hold her place in line. I nodded and said I would. Luckily the lady she was with leaned over to me and sweetly said, ‘I speak english, dear.’ I wanted to hug her in that moment. Immediately we bonded over shoes, NYC and how stupid I felt not knowing the language. She lived in the states for a while and said she understood the frustration, but would help me. This kind stranger helped me buy my wedges and then told me to go to Zara. My soul mate, literally and and maybe figuratively.

 

 

 

One of my favorite parts of Madrid was the last day we found Parque del Buen Retiro and decided to just stay there all afternoon. We wandered around and found a precious little sandwich shop and found some things to take away to the park. (Side note: in Europe they say ‘take-away’ instead of ‘to-go’ and I much prefer that. It just sounds like you are going to take your meal on a romantic day trip instead of just eating it in the car real fast while no one is watching.) We also brought wine because…there is no justification really. If you have time to have a picnic in a beautiful park, you have time to drink day wine. (If you are thinking, wow she just drank her way through Europe didn’t she? You are exactly right.) It was one of my favorite afternoons abroad. Just us with friends as we talked, people watched and fed the birds. And by fed the birds I mean we might as well have just made a place for them at our picnic because once you give them a tiny bit of bread they basically want the whole sandwich and a glass of wine. We waited too long to ride the little boats around the lake at the park, but if we were to go back that would be first on my list.

(At one point the bird actually landed on Ramie’s hand. Spain, where even the birds are nice.)
 top: similar / skirt: Madewell / purse: Fossil / sunnies: topshop / espadrilles: similar or here

 

 

(B and I, but more importantly, my new espadrilles from Spain.)
A few other things we did / saw: Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor (so fun to just get a coffee and walk around), Puerta de Sol (shopping, people watching, food), Gran Via and honest lyrics a lot of places that we didn’t get photos or names of. We got lost so many times but that’s what you are supposed to do, I think. You don’t have to play by the rules, you don’t have a schedule to tend to, you just get lost. But we always (somehow) found our way back by the end of the day.
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*PS: we didn’t really use our camera much in Madrid (#toobusydrinking) so some of these photos, if grainy or blurry, are from our phones 🙂  

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102 Responses

  1. Beautiful photos and cute shoes. 🙂 I don’t want to be a pest but you mentioned writing about what to pack for a trip to Europe and so I’m hoping you will still post that. I’m really looking forward to it because I leave for the UK, Italy, and France in just under two weeks! 🙂

  2. I’m always embarrassed at how little I remember the names of all of the places we visited in Scotland on our honeymoon, and I was still 26 at the time! Spring chicken!
    You’ve now moved Spain higher on the list on places we have to go (and we’ll throw Portugal into that trip because why not?). Looks so gorgeous.

  3. your friend Rami’s sandals, do you know where from?

    also, (and i checked with my spanish friend), catalan is spoken mainly in barcelona and of course Catalonia, but definitely not in madrid.

  4. Just a comment- Catalan is not “a bit different” than Castilian (the Spanish you learned in school. It is a separate language, as any Catalan will remind you at length. Plus, it is unlikely that you would hear it outside of Catalonia.

    I love the blog! It’s wonderful to see your traveling photos and outfits too.

  5. I’m thinking maybe you mean “Castilian,” or “Castellano”. That’s, for many native speakers, the preferred name of the language that most Americans call “Spanish.” I think to a lot of speakers of the language, “Spanish” sounds like it might sound to us if we met someone who kept using the word “Canadian” to refer to the language we call English. As Emma notes, Castilian is a completely different language from Catalan, and while there may be small Catalan-speaking communities in Madrid, they wouldn’t be the norm, by any means.

  6. I think getting lost is the best way of getting to know a place. At least that is what hubby and I do, intentionally or not.

  7. Catalan is not spoken in Madrid, that is a dialect of Barcelona. They do speak Spanish in Madrid, it’s just often referred to as “Castellano.” Castellano is still Spanish, and anyone who knows Spanish from Latin America would have no difficulties speaking or understanding it in Spain.

  8. My husband wants to wear suede Chukka boots with shorts, and I’ve said no. You say yes?

  9. Beautiful photos and cute shoes. 🙂 I don't want to be a pest but you mentioned writing about what to pack for a trip to Europe and so I'm hoping you will still post that. I'm really looking forward to it because I leave for the UK, Italy, and France in just under two weeks! 🙂

  10. Love this! Such a great group of photos! I give ya two thumbs up for chocolate at breakfast! When in Spain, you just gotta! 😉

  11. I'm always embarrassed at how little I remember the names of all of the places we visited in Scotland on our honeymoon, and I was still 26 at the time! Spring chicken!
    You've now moved Spain higher on the list on places we have to go (and we'll throw Portugal into that trip because why not?). Looks so gorgeous.

  12. your friend Rami's sandals, do you know where from?

    also, (and i checked with my spanish friend), catalan is spoken mainly in barcelona and of course Catalonia, but definitely not in madrid.

  13. Just a comment- Catalan is not "a bit different" than Castilian (the Spanish you learned in school. It is a separate language, as any Catalan will remind you at length. Plus, it is unlikely that you would hear it outside of Catalonia.

    I love the blog! It's wonderful to see your traveling photos and outfits too.

  14. I'm thinking maybe you mean "Castilian," or "Castellano". That's, for many native speakers, the preferred name of the language that most Americans call "Spanish." I think to a lot of speakers of the language, "Spanish" sounds like it might sound to us if we met someone who kept using the word "Canadian" to refer to the language we call English. As Emma notes, Castilian is a completely different language from Catalan, and while there may be small Catalan-speaking communities in Madrid, they wouldn't be the norm, by any means.

  15. I think getting lost is the best way of getting to know a place. At least that is what hubby and I do, intentionally or not.

  16. Catalan is not spoken in Madrid, that is a dialect of Barcelona. They do speak Spanish in Madrid, it's just often referred to as "Castellano." Castellano is still Spanish, and anyone who knows Spanish from Latin America would have no difficulties speaking or understanding it in Spain.

  17. My husband wants to wear suede Chukka boots with shorts, and I've said no. You say yes?

  18. Glad to see that you had fun! Such cute pictures and it’s really great you didn’t take your camera… I know the pressure to take pictures and post, post and post especially on Insta… It’s really time to relax and enjoy!
    Love the new wedges!

    Happy Medley

  19. I always love to see the impression that people from different countries have of my own, I really enjoyed your posts about Barcelona and now this one from Madrid (and I can’t wait to see the one from Switzerland, the country where I live now!). Just so you know, catalan is actually a different language than spanish (not a lot of people speak it, but anyway): it’s just like italian or french, they all have the same latin origin but are different languages on its own 😉 Have a nice day!

  20. Glad to see that you had fun! Such cute pictures and it's really great you didn't take your camera… I know the pressure to take pictures and post, post and post especially on Insta… It's really time to relax and enjoy!
    Love the new wedges!

    Happy Medley

  21. Lovely pics of Madrid and yes, I would have stayed the whole afternoon, even the whole day en el parque de Retiro too! They speak Catalan in Barcelona while in Madrid, Spanish is spoken unless you´re talking to a Catalonian(who also speaks Spanish) in Madrid. 😉

  22. I always love to see the impression that people from different countries have of my own, I really enjoyed your posts about Barcelona and now this one from Madrid (and I can't wait to see the one from Switzerland, the country where I live now!). Just so you know, catalan is actually a different language than spanish (not a lot of people speak it, but anyway): it's just like italian or french, they all have the same latin origin but are different languages on its own 😉 Have a nice day!

  23. Hi!! i´m from Madrid living in Brasil…you can´t imagine how happy your post made me feel!! i love my city and the Retiro is one of the most beautiful parks of Madrid, but you can find so many pretty places all over the city!! Castellano and spanish are the same, but Catalán is a dialect from Cataluña which is just spoken there 😉 , i suppose you were lucky enough to find a person from Cataluña in Madrid to speak to!! i have loved the pictures, thanks a lot for bringing me a little piece of my beloved city!

  24. Lovely pics of Madrid and yes, I would have stayed the whole afternoon, even the whole day en el parque de Retiro too! They speak Catalan in Barcelona while in Madrid Spanish is spoken unless you´re talking to a Catalonian in Madrid. 😉

  25. Love your pictures and your stories. YEs it can be hard when you’re in a foreign country but a lot of people speak English. It helps a lot.

    Agi:)

    vodkainfusedlemonade.com

  26. Hi!! i´m from Madrid living in Brasil…you can´t imagine how happy your post made me feel!! i love my city and the Retiro is one of the most beautiful parks of Madrid, but you can find so many pretty places all over the city!! Castellano and spanish are the same, but Catalán is a dialect from Cataluña which is just spoken there 😉 , i suppose you were lucky enough to find a person from Cataluña in Madrid to speak to!! i have loved the pictures, thanks a lot for bringing me a little piece of my beloved city!

  27. I loved Madrid when I visited nearly 20 years ago as a teenager. I have such fond memories of the city, including my first ride on public transportation. I was the best spanish speaker in our group, so I had to take everyone to the zapateria (shoe store) and help them buy cervezas. I loved that first pair of espadrilles. I’m sorry if you didn’t get to the Prado; it was my favorite spot after the Plaza Mayor.

  28. Love your pictures and your stories. YEs it can be hard when you're in a foreign country but a lot of people speak English. It helps a lot.

    Agi:)

    vodkainfusedlemonade.com

  29. Not sure if you’d be willing to share this info, but I would be fascinated to learn what one might expect budget wise for a trip to Spain? Daily?

    1. Almost €50,00 per day. I’ve been in Madrid at the same time then Kendi and I stayed there for 15 days. This amount is engouh for eating and going to the museum. BTW, the “cañas” and wine are the best and you will pay the same for a soda. Madrid is wonderfully, don’t miss it.

  30. I loved Madrid when I visited nearly 20 years ago as a teenager. I have such fond memories of the city, including my first ride on public transportation. I was the best spanish speaker in our group, so I had to take everyone to the zapateria (shoe store) and help them buy cervezas. I loved that first pair of espadrilles. I'm sorry if you didn't get to the Prado; it was my favorite spot after the Plaza Mayor.

  31. Not sure if you'd be willing to share this info, but I would be fascinated to learn what one might expect budget wise for a trip to Spain? Daily?

  32. Everyone thinks it’s sacrilegious that I’m not the biggest churros fan, especially since I’ve been living in Madrid for the last year. :p But ah, Madrid. It looks like you caught the nice weather before the it all turned cloudy and rainy here! And wine in Retiro is prooooobably the best way to spend an afternoon. (It’s one of the things I’ve gotten very good at during my time here!) 🙂

    And yes, Catalan is a dialect spoken in Barcelona (which is part of Catalonia) and is kind of like if you stuck Spanish and French in a bag and shook it up. Castellano is what they call Spanish here and while the accent is a bit different than what’s spoken in South America (here ‘v’s sound like ‘v’s and they make ‘th’ sounds out of ‘s’, ‘c’ and ‘z’ in a lot of cases), it’s otherwise super similar.

    But I’m glad you enjoyed Madrid so much! I really do love this city and am always excited to see what other people think/do/etc. when they get here. 🙂

  33. Everyone thinks it's sacrilegious that I'm not the biggest churros fan, especially since I've been living in Madrid for the last year. :p But ah, Madrid. It looks like you caught the nice weather before the it all turned cloudy and rainy here! And wine in Retiro is prooooobably the best way to spend an afternoon. (It's one of the things I've gotten very good at during my time here!) 🙂

    And yes, Catalan is a dialect spoken in Barcelona (which is part of Catalonia) and is kind of like if you stuck Spanish and French in a bag and shook it up. Castellano is what they call Spanish here and while the accent is a bit different than what's spoken in South America (here 'v's sound like 'v's and they make 'th' sounds out of 's', 'c' and 'z' in a lot of cases), it's otherwise super similar.

    But I'm glad you enjoyed Madrid so much! I really do love this city and am always excited to see what other people think/do/etc. when they get here. 🙂

  34. Almost €50,00 per day. I've been in Madrid at the same time then Kendi and I stayed there for 15 days. This amount is engouh for eating and going to the museum. BTW, the "cañas" and wine are the best and you will pay the same for a soda. Madrid is wonderfully, don't miss it.

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